Veteran ivory carver Li Chunke supports the Chinese government's ban on ivory, but wants the traditional culture in his craft to survive.

Anthony Kuhn
/ NPR

Listen

Listening...

/

Originally published on January 13, 2017 2:41 pm

Little white chips fly off in every direction with each blow of master ivory carver Li Chunke's chisel.

Gradually, the folds of a robe, tassels and hands of an ancient Chinese woman begin to emerge from a rough piece of ivory in front of him in his Beijing workshop.

Li says nothing looks as smooth, nothing can be carved as intricately or expressively as ivory. Wood and jade are too brittle.

"Whether I'm carving animal or human figures, I try to express their feelings," he says. "That's what Chinese consider most important."

He shows me a small piece made by one of his apprentices from a piece of scrap ivory. It shows a high mountain swathed in clouds, beneath which two elderly gentlemen sit under a pine tree playing a game of Go. One of the gentlemen strokes his beard, as if to say, "Hmm, what's my next move here?"

For years, China's government has argued that banning ivory would destroy centuries-old cultural traditions that carvers like Li and his apprentices preserve. But in December, Beijing announced it would phase out its ivory trade by the end of 2017.

Environmentalists hailed the move as offering hope for the world's dwindling number of elephants, as well as a fundamental shift in the way China's government and people view the use of wildlife products.

China is widely acknowledged as one of the world's biggest ivory markets, if not the biggest, though the total value is hard to gauge. The country's total consumption, according to one estimate, is about 13.5 tons annually in recent years, most of it illegal.

The existence of a legal ivory market in China has provided cover for black marketeers, who often pass off their wares as legitimately sourced.

For the past 53 years, Li has worked at the state-owned Beijing Ivory Carving factory. Li says every piece of ivory there is registered by the government, and comes from elephants who died naturally.

None, he says, comes from poachers or smugglers, who have supplied a black market and driven elephants toward extinction. "We ivory carvers hate elephant poachers," Li says. "I would never touch a piece of ivory from a poached elephant."

Li says that when he started his job at the factory in 1964, there was no smuggling. Then again, China's economy had no private sector in those days. Nor was there an Internet, where a lot of ivory is now bought and sold.

Li and others saw the Chinese ban coming. President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed in 2015 that both countries would do it. Environmental groups and celebrities have campaigned for years for a ban.

"When the buying stops, the killing can too," former Houston Rockets center Yao Ming says in an ad for the group WildAid. The group has also enlisted British royal Prince William in its campaign.

Steve Blake, WildAid's acting chief representative in China, says his group does annual surveys in China, asking questions such as whether people know where ivory comes from and whether they would support a government ban on ivory. He says over 95 percent of his Chinese respondents back the ban.

Last September, China also supported an international ban on trade in critically endangered pangolins. And, Blake notes, it is working to stop poaching of the totoaba fish, a food on which the endangered vaquita porpoise feeds in the Gulf of California.

"There have just been a lot of really encouraging signs in the past couple of months of China's will to change this worrying trend of consuming endangered wildlife," Blake says. "And so they should be given a lot of credit."

Details about the ivory ban still need to be ironed out. It's unclear what the government is going to do with existing ivory stockpiles — buy them or burn them.

Meanwhile, the government has promised to find other work for the carvers, restoring ivory to be collected by museums.

Carver Li Chunke says he's not worried about his own survival.

"We've been prepared for this for a long time," he explains.

Plus, there's another source of material he can rely on: "We also carve mammoth ivory."

That's right: The tusks of elephants' woolly ancestors are still legal to buy and sell in China — if you care to go to Siberia and dig them up.

Copyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

Elephants, sharks, pangolins - China has been using these and other animals in food, art and medicine for centuries. Now, there's a fundamental shift underway. NPR's Anthony Kuhn reports from Beijing on China's changing attitude toward wildlife products.

(SOUNDBITE OF IVORY CARVING)

ANTHONY KUHN, BYLINE: Little white chips fly off in every direction with each blow of master ivory carver Li Chunke's chisel. Gradually, the folds of a robe, tassels and the hands of an ancient Chinese woman begin to emerge from a rough piece of ivory in front of him. He says nothing looks as smooth, nothing can be carved as intricately or as expressively as ivory.

KUHN: For the past 53 years, Li has worked at the state-owned Beijing Ivory Carving factory. Li says that every piece of ivory there is registered by the government and comes from elephants who died naturally. None, he says, come from black market poachers or smugglers.

CHUNKE: (Through interpreter) We ivory carvers hate elephant poachers. I would never touch a piece of ivory from a poached elephant.

KUHN: For years, China's government has argued that banning ivory would destroy the centuries-old cultural traditions that carvers like Li preserve. But last month, China announced it would phase out its ivory trade by the end of this year. Li and others saw the ban coming. Presidents Obama and Xi Jinping agreed in 2015 that both their countries would do it, and environmental groups and celebrities have campaigned for it for years.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

YAO MING: (Foreign language spoken).

KUHN: When the buying stops, the killing can too, former Houston Rockets center Yao Ming says in an ad for the group WildAid. Steve Blake, WildAid's acting chief representative in China, says that the ads appear to have helped raise awareness. His group does annual surveys asking Chinese whether they know where ivory comes from.

STEVE BLAKE: And would you support a government ban on ivory? And the supporting of the government ban on ivory from our surveys have always been over 95 percent.

KUHN: Last week, China's national airline banned the transport of sharks' fins. In a swipe at corruption, China banned shark's fin soup at official banquets in 2013, and Blake says imports and prices have since plummeted.

BLAKE: There have just been a lot of very encouraging signs in the last couple months of China's will to change this worrying trend of consuming endangered wildlife, and so they should be giving a lot of credit.

KUHN: Lots of details about the ivory ban still need to be ironed out like, for example, what the government is going to do with existing ivory stockpiles - buy it or burn it. Come what may, carver Li Chunke says he's not worried about his own survival.

CHUNKE: (Through interpreter) We've been prepared for this for a long time. We also carve mammoth ivory.

KUHN: That's right, the tusks of elephants' woolly ancestors are still legal to buy and sell in China if you care to go to Siberia and dig them up. Anthony Kuhn, NPR News, Beijing.